Governance
The process and roles below are designed to support collaborative and data-driven governance. This framework defines clear decision boundaries and requirements to ensure all campus and district stakeholders are effectively engaged.
Executive Sponsor
Chancellor Rosie Rimando-Chareunsap
Responsibilities:
- Strategic direction
- Executive sponsorship
- Major decision approvals
- Portfolio prioritization
- Board engagement
- Strategic direction
- Executive decisions
- Board communications
- Enterprise accountability
Executive Lead
Brent Jones, Executive Advisor to the Chancellor for Enterprise Strategy & Transformation
Responsibilities:
- Overall initiative leadership
- Governance design
- Portfolio management
- Executive reporting
- Risk management
- Change management oversight
- Benefits realization oversight
- Steering Committee facilitation
Executive Steering Committee
Chancellor's Executive Cabinet
Responsibilities:
- Enterprise prioritization
- Decision recommendations
- Executive decision support
- Resource alignment
- Risk review and management
- Progress review and Strategic oversight
- Governance
Presidents Council
College Presidents: Vice Chancellors of AS/ Instruction/ SS)
Role: Primary operating sponsors
Responsibilities
- Approve priorities
- Confirm resource commitments
- Resolve cross-college issues
- Support implementation
- Champion institutional alignment
District-Wide Leadership Team (DWLT)
Responsibilities:
- Cross-functional review
- Operational alignment
- Dependency management
- Implementation coordination
- Recommendation development
- Progress updates
- Engagement
- Communications
- Feedback
- Shared ownership
Functional Working Teams
Workstreams
- Enrollment & Onboarding
- Student Services & Success
- Academic Pathways
- Technology & Systems
- Organizational Alignment
- Fiscal Sustainability
- Communications & Change Management
- Metrics & Continuous Improvement
Responsibilities
- Analysis
- Recommendations
- Design
- Pilot implementation
This framework clarifies institutional decision rights by defining who executes the work, who holds final authority, and who must be enegaged throughout the governance process.
Responsible (R)
- Working Teams: responsible for data analysis and drafting decision package recommendations.
Accountable (A)
- Chancellor: Holds ultimate decision-making authority and final approval sign-off for all strategic packages.
- Executive Advisor: Facilitates compliance, workflow adherence, and integrity of overall governance process.
Consulted (C)
- College Cabinets/Executive Leadership Teams (ELTs): Provide institutional impact reviews and campus-specific feedback.
- Districtwide Leadership Team (DLT): Conducts cross-functional enterprise reviews to ensure system-wide alignment.
- Chancellor's Executive Cabinet (CEC): Evaluates portfolio prioritization and provides formal recommendations, prioritization and endorsements.
Informed (I)
- Seattle Colleges Community: kept updated on approved changes, project progress, and institutional impacts.
- Board of Trustees: Receive formal updates and final briefings on strategic outcomes and cabinet recommendations.
To maintain organizational momentum and transparent oversight, decision-making authority and issue resolutions are distributed across four distinct institutional tiers:
- Operational issues resolved at sponsor level
- Cross-college issues resolved through Districtwide Leadership Team
- Enterprise tradeoffs reviewed by Cabinet (CEC)
- Strategic direction and major organizational decisions reserved for Chancellor
Recommendations are evaluated, governed, and approved through the following process.
- Develop Recommendations: Working Teams prepare recommendations and decision packages.
- Assess Local Impacts: College President Cabinets and Executive Leadership Teams (ELTs) evaluate impacts at the campus level.
- Conduct Enterprise Review: The Districtwide Leadership Team aligns cross-college interests and conducts a district-level/enterprise review.
- Executive Check: The Chancellor's Cabinet serves as Executive Steering Committee responsible for strategic oversight, prioritization, financial stewardship, risk review, implementation readiness, and endorsement of recommendations.
- Final Approval: The chancellor makes the final decision.
The elements below are required in each decision-making package.
- Executive Summary: High-level overview of the proposal.
- Problem Statement: The core issue or opportunity being addressed.
- Current-State Assessment: The existing baseline situation.
- Options Analysis: Evaluated alternatives and choices.
- Stakeholder Feedback: Perspectives and inputs from key groups.
- Organizational Impact Assessment: How this affects people, processes, and systems.
- Financial Analysis: Budget, ROI, and cost breakdowns.
- Governance & Decision Rights: Accountability and approval structures.
- Risk Assessment: Potential risks and mitigation strategies.
- Implementation Readiness: Timeline, resources, and phased deployment plans.
- Success Measures: KPIs and metrics to track outcomes.